


Our souls will meet again

by StayFoxy



Category: Western - Fandom, Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Bandits & Outlaws, F/M, Western, Wilderness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2019-10-30 21:52:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17836802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StayFoxy/pseuds/StayFoxy
Summary: A wild west tale told from flashbacks in a modern zootopia timeline. It sounds confusing i know but it will make sense.





	1. The Wilde Renard Gang great train robbery

**Author's Note:**

> Hey Foxy here. This is my first fanfic! I used to read and write a lot in high school but i drifted from it. I just picked it back up. So please understand i may be rusty. Feedback is appreciated and valued heavily. Just for readers to know I don't plan when I write i usually just let it flow as i go. I like the challenge. I will go back and edit/improve on weak parts when i re-read. I'm not flawless by any means. Anyway if you have any suggestions/questions/ideas/or even any good characters you think could fit in don't hesitate to message me! I'm also on fanfic under the same name just haven't uploaded on that site yet. You can pm me there or email me twolves77 on the old gmail. Anyway enjoy

"Alright, no mistakes. We can do this with ease. The Evergreen train should be around that bend any minute. Comet, Charlie, Delgato take the passenger cars. Wolford, Fangmeyer, Jackson you three hit the cargo and caboose cars. That should be where the majority of the money is. Johnson you and I will hit the guard car near the front."

The masked lion nodded in agreement.

"Lastly Snarlov, you crazy canine, you hit the engine." 

The gray wolf wore an eerily creepy grin across his muzzle. " Got it, boss." Came his reply in a rough foreign accent.

The fox paused and quickly added "And don't take too long. Quick and quietly. No need to go overboard like the Wesson bank job." 

Snarlov replied in a playfully reluctant manner "Fine...". 

"Everyone knows the plan?" The collective eyes of the masked figures before the ginger-furred fox nodded in agreement. 

"Alright get ready." The mammals moved in their respected groups to their positions overlooking the train tracks from an old wooden bridge. 

"We have to time this just right... Before the train passes through that tunnel way back there" Johnson muttered before pointing toward a tunnel in the side of a mountain about a mile or two behind them.

Seeing the hint of doubt creep on the lions face the fox smoothly replied "It's alright Johnson, Snarlov will stop the train before it reaches New Clawson. I trust that secret entrance into the tunnel Finnick had y'all working on all week will hold up and provide an excellent route for our departure. Now quite down I think I hear our ride." 

As if on cue a growing whistle could be heard splitting throughout the quiet afternoon and the peaceful mountainside. The Behemoth steam engine was merrily chugging along at a comfortable pace. It soon reached the old bridge the gang was hiding on. The first to jump was Snarlov. He landed perfectly on the coal car and quietly began creeping towards the engine. 

"Let's go." the fox muttered as he jumped over the edge with practiced finesse, along with the lion, both landing smoothly on the roof of the guard car directly behind the coal car.

The fox took a glance back to make sure the others followed suit with no difficulties. Comet, Charlie, and Delgato slipped onto the passenger cars with ease and dropped down between the last two cars couplings to greet the lucky passengers. 

With one last sideways glance the fox spied the last of his crew, Wolford, Fangmeyer, and Jackson, land on the first cargo car with a little bit less finesse than the others with Jackson having to grab Wolford's paw and stop him from slipping off the edge as he hit the roof landing on his stomach and began to slide off the side. The fox chuckled to himself at the sight before bringing his bandana up over his muzzle.

He dropped down on the back side of the guard car while Johnson ran across the roof to the front side of the car.

"What the hell was that?" A voice perked up from inside the car.

"How should I know go check Morales." Another voice chimed in.

"Why me?" Came from who the fox could only assume was Morales.

"Cause you're the closest to the door." The 1st voice picked up.

"Fine.." The fox readied himself as he spied the door handle begin to turn. 

The deer's eyes lit up as soon as the door opened and the back end of a revolver smashed across his face with a sickening bone-snapping crunch. The buck crumpled immediately.

"I suggest y'all surrender now and y'all won't get hurt." The cool voice from the masked fox barked.

"Like hell!" Came from the raccoon who reached for his gun but was cut down before he could even touch the hilt of his pistol.

"Bad move partner." The fox spit. 

The remaining 8 mammals snapped out of their initial shock realizing they had the numbers advantage. One of the sheep chirped in "He's only got 5 shots left and there's 8 of us. Get him!" 

As they all reached for their pistols, rifles, and shotguns the other door of the car bust open and the masked lion holding dual pistols unleashed a barrage into the back row of the guards. Shots rang out as they stuck their targets, a possum, directly in the back of the head, smearing bits of brain on his companions. As well as two portly pigs, two shots apiece ripping through their chests, and lastly the heavy set sheep right through his neck. He crashed to the ground gurgling and choking on his own blood. 

The fox dispatched the next two mammals directly in front of him with little effort. Another buck, whose eyes rolled back as he crashed to the floor from clean shot to the heart, and a rhino with a precise shot through the skull as he crashed down on top of a not so quick jackrabbit crushing him instantly.

"Ha ha ha damn he pissed himself!" Johnson cackled as he pointed to the last guard shaking uncontrollably as he stood in the middle of all his dead companions. 

The shaking dog looked up at the fox memorizing every little detail of his attacker, the sharply dressed bandit had on a dark grey undershirt with a dark red vest covering it finished with a black duster coat and black ranch pants with a barely visible set of pinstripes running down them. The final piece of his intimidating presence was his well worn but still elegant black ranch hand cowboy hat with a thin dark red rope tied around its base. 

The fox smirked under his bandana and pointed towards the hound dog. "Come here." He barked. 

The Hound reluctantly complied.

"I said come here feller. Before I send you on your way with the rest of your buddies here." The fox barked out obvious irritation forming in his voice. 

"Your lucky your a canine. I almost consider a dog like you as somewhat of a predator. So I'll let you live. I'm not an unreasonable mammal. Y'all should have listened to me when I said surrender and I noticed you didn't go for your gun. Smart move dog." 

The fox grabbed a pair of old cuffs the guards used for restraining rowdy passengers and cuffed the hound to the guards gun cabinet. As soon as he clicked the cuff on the hound's wrist the train jerked slightly and began slowly losing momentum. 

"Ahh, he did it." The fox pointed towards the engine and directed the lion "Go see if he needs any help." 

Johnson gave a slight nod and left the car. As the fox turned towards the door he came through the hound called out in a raspy shook voice, "Your Niinnick Wilde aaaaren't you? With the Renard Wilde gang..." 

Nick turned his head halfway with one piercing emerald eye locked on the hounds, he grinned under his mask.

"Well ain't you just a smart fella. But it's the Wilde Renard gang." Nick corrected as he casually walked to the side table by the door and picked up a small vase to examine.

After a quick study, Nick turned it over spun a 180 and hurled the vase at the head of the hound with lightning fast speed and extreme accuracy. The vase shattered with a strong enough force to knock the hound dog smooth out.

Proceeding into the passenger cars Nick could hear a small commotion. 

"This is a robbery do not move a muscle until I come to you. Put all money and valuables in this bag and we won't have any problems." 

The familiar figure and voice came from the rather large dark brown and black wolf-shepherd hybrid. 

"Fox, help me subdue them," Charlie said. 

After each mammal was relieved of their valuables Nick cut pieces of rope Charlie had brought with him and tied the rich mammal's hands to their seat armrests.

"Only ten in here?" Nick asked. 

"Yeah, I thought this train would be a little more packed with these rich pricks," Charlie stated. 

He continued, "Dog and Lion hit the first two cars where we started and went back to help the cargo team." 

Nick glanced back out the front windows at the approaching tunnel. Finnick should have their small mammal made side tunnel lit with torches so they can find it faster and make a clean getaway. 

"Alright go help the two at the engine, I'll go make sure the cargo team finishes up quickly," Nick ordered careful not to use his crew's names in front of the prying ears of the bystanders. 

A quick head nod was all Charlie needed as a reply as he swiftly threw his bag over his shoulder and scampered out the door. 

Nick turned back toward the door and proceeded to head past the last two passenger cars. Noting to himself how the passengers were all smoothly tied down or knocked out. So far so good. Nick let out a sigh of relief and picked up a lantern on the small side table by the back door of the car. As soon as Nick had the lantern flame spring to life the train began to creep into the tunnel and a wave of darkness slowly crawled across the cars swallowing the train in its dark embrace. Although he and most his team had excellent night vision it would be a lot easier to make sure they didn't miss any loot with lanterns illuminating their surroundings. As he passed through the 2 cargo cars Nick noticed the luggage and cargo boxes were opened and pillaged. 

"Good work boys." Nick murmured to himself.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Came a yell outside. 

Not even five seconds after hearing the yell a deafening explosion sounded off amplified by the tunnel walls. Grabbing his ears out of pain and a little frustration Nick hurried out of the second cargo car and onto the last car before the caboose, a flatbed. 

"What the hell is y'alls problem?!" Nick hollered. 

Wolford popped his head up over a pile of boxes on the flatbed. "Sorry boss. Fangmeyer and Jackson found a safe in the caboose."

"Why didn't you use the damn guard to open it? I know cabooses always have one." Nick asked Wolford. 

"Well, we kinda threw him off after we knocked him out way back down the tracks. But hey I found a stick of dynamite back there so it's all good." 

After Wolford's sentence was finished, Jackson and Fangmeyer stepped out of the smoking caboose paws full of cash. Delgato and Comet jumped from behind the box Wolford was behind and hurried over to the two tigers with bags to carry the loot in. The white wolf stood up completely revealing two huge bags of loot. 

"Got this from the cargo cars, and Comet and Degato dumped their haul in here too. Pretty good score huh Nick?" 

Nick was still irritated with all the noise they had made but couldn't help but admire the rather large score the just landed.

"Good. Didn't expect quite that much. But next time, give me he's up before using dynamite. You know I can pick almost any lock. I'm sure that little caboose box wouldn't have been difficult. Go it?" 

"Yeah, I'm sorry boss will do..." Wolford muttered. 

Nick lit 2 more lanterns and handed them to Jackson and Fangmeyer. 

"Let's go boys." He ordered as they all hopped off the right side of the flatbed as soon as it slowed to a complete stop.

When he landed Nick looked up to see a few lanterns further down the tunnel.

"Good Finnick is on time." Nick lead his men down past down past the cargo and passenger cars stopping in front of the guard car which was parked in front of a decent sized tunnel leading to their sweet get away. 

"Alright move all of y'all," Nick ordered. 

Wolford, Jackson, Comet, Fangmeyer, and Delgato proceeded through the tunnels with the loot. 

"Good job Nicky." Came a surprisingly deep bellowing voice from a short Fennec fox. 

Nick only let a very select few mammals call him that. He didnt like it when mammals he wasn't close to said it. And the fennec tod knew it. Unfortunately for the fennec fox nick did see him as close so his little jabs and attempts to get under Nicks skin were almost in vain.

"Likewise Fin. I'm sure you have the carts ready on the other side?"

"Of course ya idiot. I ain't dumb. Remember whos plan this is. Now get the others and let's get the hell out of here." Fin said with a smirk. 

Nick nodded and hurried over to the engine as Charlie and Johnson hopped off the side of the coal car. 

"Get moving you two." He said cooley as he handed Johnson another lantern.

As they turned towards the tunnel Charlie paused and turned back to Nick, "Hey Nick my bag was only half full." He explained.

Charlie flashed a sly grin "But I did go back into the guard's car and snagged some guns, spare parts, ammo and some cleaning oil." 

"Good thinking Charlie that will definitely come in handy. The camp was running low on ammo." Nick shot back.

Happy at the praise from the mammal he admired most the young Wolfdog hurried through the tunnel with a huge stupid grin on his face.

"Snarlov!" Nick hollered.

The gray wolf peeked out the window of the engine compartment. "Yes, boss?" 

"Get her rolling. The locals in the next town over can catch and stop her." Nick said cooly in his natural suave tone.

Snarlov smiled and ducked back into the engine cab. A few seconds later the train sprang back to life and began to creep back down the line. Before it could get too far away the wolf hopped off. 

"Come now Snarlov. We have a camp of degenerates to attend to." Nick said half laughingly. 

"Of course boss. Wouldn't want to keep the rest of the fine mammals of the Wilde-Renard gang waiting now would we?" He said with a eerie grin.

The two outlaws turned towards the side tunnel entrance and began their rocky climb down their rabbit hole to freedom.


	2. Nick and Judy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flash forward in time to find our heroes discovering some zootopian history and a little personal ancestery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, foxy here. I've had the 1st three chapters of this story already on another site that was getting zero views. It was a lame amino that's only focus was mainly art and RP. And your boy cannot draw and doesn't like to RP. I wanted to hold off a little bit on adding another chapter so soon but I really have a hard time waiting around. I do hope to reach more people and see if my works are even liked and if I should even continue writing. I'm doing it because I love to read these fanfics and see how creative and imaginative people can be. I've always wanted to share my ideas and worlds and if someone actually enjoys anything I may create, it would put a smile on my face. Anyway enough of that. Let me know what ya think and if there's anything that would be a good addition let me know. I'm always down to add readers input. It kinda makes it fun to use material from the audience. You can leave a comment below, pm me on fanfiction under the same name or email me. (email on ch1 notes)

"Really!? Your great great grandfather was THE Nicholas p. Wilde? The famous outlaw and gunslinger of the west?" Judy half asked half exclaimed.

"Yea... didn't you think our names would give that away fluff? I was named after him by my father before he passed away. I never knew until I saw his name in the Zootopia history museum when I was younger on a school trip. The other kids made fun of me and they teased that I was going to become shifty and a bandit like him. So naturally when i got home and asked my mother why I had the same name as a famous outlaw, and that's when she told me the story." 

"That's amazing Nick. So what happened to him? Did they ever catch him? I HAVE to know now." Judy bombarded him with questions.

"Easy easy carrots. The museum knows pretty much everything I do. We've been partners for what 2 years now? Why the sudden interest to get to know more about my ancestry now? Don't you get enough of me at work and all the times we hang out?" Nick shot back. 

Deep down he was kind of glad she was wanting to know more about his family and heritage. He didn't know exactly why though. 

Judy hid a slight blush. "Nick come on, we've been best friends for a long time now why is it weird to you that I'm curious about you?" 

That made Nick give her his famous mischevious half grin. She didn't realize how it sounded until after she said it. But before she could come up with an excuse he interrupted her.

"Alright, fine let's go get some coffee and head to the library and whatever you want to know I'll think about answering truthfully." He said with a nudge and a wink. 

She giggled and punched his arm in return. "Deal." She said with her big bright beautiful amethyst colored eyes. 

Wait, what? Did I just think that? Nick pushed the idea to the back of his mind. Nah I can't be... Could I? He shook off the thought. 

"So why the library nick? Can't you just tell me what you know.?" Judy looked up at him intensely. 

"Well, as you know my father passed away years ago. He only told my mother a little bit about his great great grandfather. He highly respected him but oddly didnt wish to go into to much detail about his life. Said that one day he would show me. Nick explained. 

"Well he died in the hospital after trying to stop a robber from mugging a woman and her cubs. He succumbed to his injuries. Mom was devastated. She told me what she knew. Its pretty much the same that the museum has on display. However, I believe the libraries computer database has a lot more knowledge on the history of zootopia and can possibly give us some more information than what the museum has out for the public."

Judy pondered this for a moment until turning back to him and nodding in agreement. "That makes sense. There's only so much the museum has room too show. The cities database could show a lot more. Awesome i'm looking forward to this!" She said with gleam in her eyes.

"And you have to tell me your heritage too. It's only fair." He smirked.

"Ok, but that might take up a whole day." She laughed with that slightly seductive grin she did. 

"It is Sunday morning and we are off today so we should be good for time fluff."

The pair who had been sitting at the small park in front of Judy's apartment that early Sunday morning proceeded down the block to their favorite coffee shop. The Bean, a small local mom and pops cafe and bakery was their go-to coffee shop and the pair had been there nearly every day since they became partners on the ZPD. Judy ordered her usual, a cinnamon carrot spice latte, while Nick tried the new peppermint white chocolate latte. He took a sip and immediately let out a faint satisfied purr. 

"That's good. Didn't think it would be but wow."

Judy smirked to herself at catching him purring but decided to not tease him about it. 

"Let me try!" She begged. 

"What? No way! I don't want bunny cooties all on my drink." He playfully teased.

"Mean fox!" She pouted. She knew she had him. 

"Carrots? Carrots come on I was kidding... Fluff here you can try it."

"I don't have bunny cooties." She said as she turned away from him with a foot stomp and a huff.

"Ok ok, you don't have bunny cooties." 

She turned with a smile and took a sip. The warm peppermint flavor mixed with white mocha was heavenly to the taste buds. 

"That I know of." He said with a grin. 

Judy laughed and punched his arm lightly making him fake flinch in imaginary pain. 

"Ugh, Nick you can be so mean!" She said playfully.

"O you know you love me." His usual get out of jail free response.

"Do I know that? Yes, yes I do." She shot back, not before taking another huge gulp of his drink has he yelped out in dismay.

After saying their thank yous and goodbyes to the deer couple who ran The Bean, Mr. and Mrs. Grantler, they made their way to the Zootopia library. Of curse not without bumping into a few friends and coworkers along the way. 

"Ladies first," Nick said playfully as he held the door for her.

"Well aren't you just the gentlefox," Judy replied with a subtle wink and dip of her imaginary dress.

"Come on bunny the computers are upstairs by the windows. It's a great view." 

Nick wasn't lying. The pair climbed the large wooden spiral staircase to the second floor, to their right were rows and rows of bookcases with dusty tomes lining them. To their left were large fifteen-foot windows all across the wall allowing natural sunlight to spread across the reading couches and computer desks. And outside the windows was a nice open view of central park, a medium-sized park in the dead center of the city surrounded by towering skyscrapers. With the city running about all around, the view was peaceful, almost like it was on mute. 

"Alright Mr. Fox, tell me more about this other Nick Wilde, and it's funny you were named after him because I was actually named after my great great great grandmother Judy L. Hopps. She was a deputy and a founding member of Zootpia before she moved our family to the burrows district of the city." 

"Wow really? I thought you were the first bunny cop?" Nick asked curiously.

"Well first bunny ZPD officer. After Zootopia was founded they just didn't hire small mammals they didn't see it was necessary or practical. You have to remember this was many many years ago. And zootopia isn't the only city out there slick. I'm just the first ZPD bunny cop. Not the first bunny lawmammal." She explained. 

"Well, I guess that makes sense. Haha, maybe your grandma hunted my grandpa." Nick chuckled.

"Well, you never know Nicky." Judy laughed back. 

Nicky? That was new. Only Nicks sister and mother ever called him that. And sometimes Finnick. It caught him off guard but he didn't dislike it. As he thought to himself he barely began to notice the sunlight beaming in through the window just at the right spots to make her fur shine a beautiful silver.

"Nick? Yooo slick? Earth to Nicholas. You ok?" 

Her questions brought him back to reality. 

"Umm yes? Sorry." 

She knew he was staring at her his mouth was slightly ajar and his eyes were zoned out almost in a hypnotized trance. At the same time, she began to notice how the sun filtered through the window to make his ginger fur glow a brilliant flaming orange and how a few passing rays landed just perfectly for his eyes to sparkle a gorgeous emerald green. She hadn't noticed before how handsome he really was. She blushed slightly but brushed it off quickly. 

There's no way, he's my best friend, but why is he looking at me like that... She thought. Snapping back to reality the two of them gave an awkward chuckle as both scrambled for their seats. 

"Well, ha... let's umm... start with our family trees. Maybe there will be some good info in the computer library that we can discover. Later if you want we can go see my mom. I think its time you met her anyway." 

At this comment, Judy's ears shot up. "Serious? Every time I've asked about her before you've never really given me much..."

"Well carrots you're special to me and it's about time I opened up to you more." He said while searching on the web.

She didn't know quite what he meant by that. Special? Now she was curious.

"So question for you.. shall we begin..? He asked with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it's too short. I dont know what to tell you. It just felt right to end there. Well let me know what you think! Foxy out.


	3. The new deputy in town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new Deputy in town? Possibly so or maybe just another dreamer bound by societal limitations. Welcome to New Clawson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foxy her and this is another one I've already written a while ago. Just had to give some room before releases. Same as before feedback and advice is always welcome. If anyone has OCs they want to see included then by all means hit me up. Having a large character pool to play with really helps with the writing.

It had been a long trip. A grueling six-day hike in the Arizona heat had worn the small doe out. Just a few more miles... She kept thinking to herself as she finally reached the top of the trail leading up the mountainside. She paused to catch her breath.

"Wow... What a view." She whispered to no one in particular. 

She could see the outline of a small but fast-growing town below her. It was seated in the middle of a valley surrounded by mountains. On the western side of the town was the mountain opposite of her, with a small tunnel and set of tracks snaking downhill and into the town with a reasonably sized river running adjacent to them. She stood on the mountain east of the town and to the right of the hiking trail she taking was another set of rails leading into the valley coming from her hometown of burrowville. To the south of the town was a large lake which the river she saw before drained into, and to the north of the town was yet another mountain covered in a large beautiful forest.

"Maybe I should've ridden the train, after all, would have saved me a few days trip." She had wanted to get a lay of the land and riding a train just felt less personal than a hike.

New Clawson. The rapidly rising western utopia of Arizona. Where the last of the wild west was beginning to become tamed. Not much was further west besides Califurnia, and the civilized world would soon snuff out the last dying embers of the wild west spirit. Animerica was changing. And she would help bring about that change. 

She had stories as a kit of dangerous outlaws and thugs who hurt innocent people and the government who swore to protect them. She was mesmerized. Completely lost in the old romantic tales of the west. But a common consistency in most of those old stories were the bandits. They were monsters and no good scum in her eyes and now she would finally be able to really help. She was a decent shot. And a great grappler. 

Her home town was filled with friends and family and was relatively peaceful aside from the occasional bar fights here and there. She enjoyed hoping others but deep down she needed more. Of course, her family objected to her occupational choice. For most small mammals would never consider being a law mammal. The only reason she was even given a shot at being a law mammal was the fact she went to Sunday school with the now sheriff and had his back a few times the other mammals had picked on him for being a tiger cub, and a predator. 

It was very uncommon for small prey or even preds to become law enforcers but Tony managed to grow up and become loved by the citizens of burrowville enough to where they elected him sheriff. He always told Judy she was the one that helped him stay calm and not to hold hate for those who bullied him as a cub. She would always remind him he had a heart of gold all along and didn't need her to be who he was. 

Predators had been set free since the civil war had ended many years ago but tensions and distrust between preds and prey were still there in places. She had begged Tony to get in touch with the sheriff of New Clawson and let her transfer over so she could really help make the country a better place. With a little reluctance, Tony finally gave in and sent a letter to Sheriff Bogo the next day. He didn't want to lose his deputy or more importantly his best friend. Secretly he feared her ambition would be her undoing.

The doe paced into town careful to avoid the bustling carts and wagons the much larger mammals were dragging around. Mammals were everywhere all shapes and sizes. Completing chores or erecting new buildings. All of them hard at work. She stood there awestruck at their cooperation and the fast pace they were moving in. At this pace this place will be much larger by the end of summer she thought to herself. 

"Watch out" came a grizzled yell. 

The doe had mere seconds to duck as a large beam of lumber soared over her nearly beheading her.

"Sorry.." She replied.

"Dumb bunny needs to pay attention." The larger bear mumbled under his breath. 

She scrunched her face in annoyance at the rude comment but decided against retorting. She quickly moved out of the street and unto the creaky wooden walkways that connected most of the porches of the buildings. She saw a building labeled General Store and marched towards it careful to not get crushed by anything or anyone else.

The building was set up a lot like her hometown general store. The door on the right side opened up to a large area containing a few tables and shelves filled with goods, with the clerks counter wedged on the back wall. The two side walls had shelves reaching the ceiling and ran all the way down until they stopped at the back wall. On the outside of the building, there was a set of stairs leading to the second story where she presumed the shopkeeper lived.

"How can I help ya today ma'am?" The jolly robust voice that boomed towards her surprisingly came from a small shrew.

"Hi, umm I was actually wondering if you could point me to the sheriff's office." She asked as she hopped up onto one of the stools placed before the shrews counter. Why the shrew used a counter made for much larger mammals than himself she couldn't figure out.

"Must be new round here. Well, miss...?" 

"Hopps, Judy Hopps." She cut in.

The shrew started again "Well miss Hopps the sheriff office is down the road another 10 or so buildings down, next to the train station. Ya can't miss it."

Just as he finished his sentence a large polar bear bust through the door carrying a stack of boxes. "Next shipment just arrived Mr. Big." 

"Thank you, Raymond. You know what shelf they go on." Mr. Big replied.

Raymond nodded and began to unbox his cargo.

"Well thank you so much, Mr. Big, I really need to get there soon I'm already a little late," Judy told the shrew as she hopped off the stool and began for the door. 

"Please call me Danny. And don't hesitate to ask if you need anything else Miss hopps." 

"Will do thanks again," she said as she waved to him and walked out the door. 

Following Mr. Bigs instructions Judy ended up in front of the sheriffs building before she knew it. 

"Alright here goes nothing.." She whispered to herself. 

As she was about to open the door a rather stout cape buffalo in a dark grey long sleeve shirt and dark blue ranch jeans wearing a sheriff badge bust out the door followed by a small posse of other mammals.

"Mr. Higgins!" He shouted. A rather plump hippo bounded around from behind the building. 

"Yes, sheriff Bogo?" He replied.

"Hold the fort down we had a runner come in about a runaway train." The sheriff explained.

"Will do boss." Higgins disappeared inside the office building.

"Alright, Mr. Clawhauser and Mr. Fletcher. Let's go I'm going to be relying on you too to catch that train before it enters town."

The fit cheetah and lean horse nodded in agreement. 

"Sheriff can I help!?" A small voice chimed in.

"Huh?" Bogo looked around in confusion. 

"Down here. Law mammal hopps reporting in sheriff." 

Judy waved to get his attention. 

"Fletcher Clawhauser get going!" Bogo barked. 

"You must be that star deputy I heard about from burrowville." 

Judy nodded. 

"Well hopps I wasn't expecting a rabbit and you aren't a deputy here. Plus a newbie shouldn't be put to field work right away but as you can see I'm VERY short pawed around here. And you're late. A day late." He grumbled. 

"Sorry sheriff the trek was longer than I thought it would be," Judy replied.

"You didn't take the train?" Bogo cut her off. 

"No sir I.." 

"Later hopps lets go" Bogo cut her off again. 

A little flustered at his remarks she easily matched his pace as he began to run down the street following the tracks to the outskirts of the town. As they passed a few of the large fields they finally caught a glimpse of the train. It wasn't going full speed but it sure wasn't at a walking pace either. It was rolling at enough speed to derail and cause damage at the bend in the tracks by the station. The pair managed to catch up to Clawhauser and Fletcher who were by the tracks behind one of the local farmers barn. 

"Over here, sheriff," Clawhauser shout out.

"What's the holdup?" The sheriff snorted.

"Sorry, Bogo I twisted my paw back there on a root. Clumsy me." The cheetah explained. 

"Great job John. Are you still good to catch the train, Fletcher?" He asked the horse. 

"Well kinda. I'm not as fast as John. Plus it will be hard to jump on board for me I'm not as agile as him either." Replied the horse.

"If you can get me close I can jump on board and slow it down." The three looked at Judy surprised. 

"No," Bogo replied. 

"But Sheriff." Judy protested. 

"No," he came again. A little more stern. She could feel the power he had just from he pressure of his voice. She shivered a little.

"Sir I think its the best idea for now. The train is about to pass by here." Fletcher added. 

"I.. We.. Damn. Fine. As long as you're ok with it. And you don't do anything stupid to get yourselves killed. Am i clear?" The Sheriff spit out. 

Fletcher and Judy nodded. 

"Hop on miss." Judy jumped onto Fletchers back.

The train turned a bin and was now approaching. Fletcher began to gallop alongside the train as it ran past the barn.

He managed to get "hurry the town is getting close go now!" Out of his snout as he ran alongside the engine cabin. "Judy stood up trying to keep her balance from his galloping motion. She could barely hear him over her own heartbeat. Everything was in slow motion. Her ears buzzed her chest pounded and she felt light. Aside from the adrenaline flowing through her body she surprisingly felt calm. She counted to three and jumped. Time was slow she could see the ground speeding under her and for a brief moment she felt more alive than she had ever felt before. This was by far the biggest and craziest thing as a law mammal she had ever done and it felt like she had been in the air forever before she finally hit the cold steel floor of the train. Her heart was still pounding. Her nerves were up. The adrenaline was pumping. And she loved it. 

She looked around for a way to slow the train. Out of the corner of her eye she spied the brake lever. She managed to hop on the brake lever and pull it down just in time. The train came skidding down the tracks as sparks flew out by the wheels as it approached the curve in the tracks that lead to the station. The train came to a halt right before the curve. Judy let out a sigh of relief and slumped down on the cold steel of the coal car. At the speed it was going it would've hopped off the tracks and bulldozed half the town. As she got off the train Fletcher trotted up stood back up and began to huff and puff.

"That.. Was.. Awesome.. You're incredible.. Miss?" 

"Hopps. Judy Hopps. But just Judy is fine. And I never would've been able to catch the train without you, Mr. Fletcher." 

After catching his breath the horse replied, "Please call me Hank. Now let's see what's going on aboard this runaway shall we?" 

The pair boarded the train where the first passenger car and guard car met. 

"Shall we wait for Bogo and John?" Judy asked.

"Knowing Arthur he would want to know by the time he gets here why this train almost ruined his town," Hank replied cheekily.

"Is someone there? HELP!" A yell could be heard from the inside of the guard car. The duo rushed to the door.

When they opened the door they were shocked at the site that greeted them. Bodies littered the floor and the smell of gunsmoke and blood tainted the air. 

"Help! O thank god!" A hound dog was tied to the gun cabinet bleeding from the left side of his skull. 

Judy ran to his side. "Wheres the key?" She asked.

"In the table beside the door." He replied. 

Sure enough, Hank opened the drawer and pulled out a small metal key and tossed it to Judy. 

"What happened and what's your name?" Hank asked the dog while Judy removed the cuffs.

"I'm Jacob blue. And we got robbed. It happened so fast and we didn't even have time to react." Jacob answered. 

"Who could've done such a thing?" Judy asked. 

"The Wilde Renard gang that's who." Hank cut in. "Am I right Mr. Blue?"

"Yes. And that Mr. Wilde is just as intimidating as everyone says." Jacob answered visibly shaken as he stood up. 

"Let's go check on the other cars," Judy said as she made her way to the door. 

"Let me help," Jacob said as he got up and followed the horse and bunny to the next car over.

The sheriff and John showed up just as Judy and her companions finished cutting the passengers free and getting them off the train. As they sat around and explained what happened a pig pulling a cart came into town and marched straight up to Bogo. "Think this belongs to that train." He grunted as he pulled a Deer wearing a conductor outfit off his cart and a beaver in a guard uniform and dropped them in front of Bogo. "Thank you? Mr. Wilbur where did you find these two?" Bogo replied as the pig began to walk off.

"Other side of the tunnel by the tracks. By my farm. I heard a explosion by the tunnel and went over to check on it. Found them." Wilbur replied as he was walking away. 

"You have my thanks Mr. Wilbur tell Heidi I said hello."

"Yeah yeah no problem Arthur." The pig waved him off as he continued to walk away.

"Hank take that Buck and Beaver to the doc along with John. Jacob, we need to go file this report and get eye witness statements from the passengers." 

"Happy to help Mr. Bogo," Jacob replied as he turned and walked toward the passengers. 

"Miss Hopps. I have to say. Outstanding job. I think you'll make a good member of my team." Bogo said with a grin. 

"Thank you, sheriff. I thought you might've hated me.." Judy let out.  
"Of course not hopps. I'm just picky with who my help are. I don't want anyone else on this force to die." He let out with a small grin.

Judy smiled at his words. She knew he had a heart under the rough exterior. 

"Do you mind if I help with asking the witnesses?" 

"Go ahead. I'm going back to the office. You and Jacob get their statements and meet me back inside." 

"Yes, sir!" Judy explained and bound off towards the crowd. 

The sun had already set as they finished interviewing a bunch of crying and shook passengers about what they managed to see so Judy and Jacob began their way back to the sheriff's office. 

"Well, what did they know?" Bogo asked. 

Jacob answered, "Well from what I saw plus what passengers seen and heard we believe we have a total of about nine or ten Robbers. No one could get a good look at their faces but we do know they all were preds. And that they well armed. A couple wolves, some tigers, some lions and of course that fox." 

"That's about right." The sheriff replied.

"Hank also seemed to know who it was. Have y'all run into these scumbags much?" Judy asked.

"Yes. The Wilde Renard gang. They've been a thorn in the sides of many cities across Arizona and the rest of the west. I've heard that they did really big jobs back east and hit Texas really hard as well. So far around here they've only done petty robberies for food and money from farmers and the occasional stage coach. They've only hit the town itself once. They showed up here about 7 months ago. I've looked all over these damned mountains for their hideouts. Only ever found scraps and leftovers from their camps. They are starting to get rather ballsy with what they rob. Must be getting desperate." Sheriff Bogo explained. 

"They've killed many of my law mammals in shootouts when we do manage to run into them. For example, we stumbled unto them trying to rob one of the gun shops on the outside of town. That was a very dumb move on my part. They had a gun shop in their hands, a GUN shop, and they killed many of my deputies and enforcers. I lost eight mammals from that event alone. And only managed to take out two of theirs. That happened about two months ago." Bogo slammed his fist down in frustration. 

"As far as I know they could have 50 mammals hiding in the woods. I'm very underpawed. So that's why I've called for governor Bellwether for help. He should be down by the end of the week." The Buffalo didn't look too happy about having to ask for help from the governor. "I also telegraphed other states and counties for any information on this gang. i only received a reply from a Sheriff in Dallas. He informed me that he would send a one of his texas rangers over with all the information he had on this gang. I hope it helps but my expectations are not very high." 

When the buffalo finished his rant. He leaned against the wooden door frame of the office and let out a heavy sigh. Bogo looked like a worn-out mammal. Seeing an opportunity to speak the hound dog chimed in, "Can I stay and help?" Jacob asked.

"If you want to I won't turn away the offer," Bogo replied. "Maybe your fellow guard that beaver might want in too. I'll ask him in the morning after he recovers from his injuries. Now come you two. I have a bunkhouse that can hold up to 30 mammals in it. All separate rooms. Big kitchen. And yes female and male bathrooms. You two are apart of this force you can stay there with the rest of us. It used to be full... Now its just Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Clawhauser, Mr. Higgins and myself." The Sheriff looked sad as he got up and walked to the door to show the two newbies their lodging.

As they walked Jacob chimed in. "O, Cory? Yeah, I'm positive he will help. He as a short fuse and being thrown off the train probably pissed him off big time. Mr. Belk will surely stay. I mean we are the only guards left. That train company can find others they wont miss us." Jacob smiled. He was starting to feel a little hopeful. Next time he saw that fox he wouldn't be so nervous. He wouldn't be caught off guard like that again.

As the walked out of the office and to the next-door building that was the law mammal lodge they passed a small cemetery wedged in between the two buildings. There were multiple crosses with badges on them. Judy shuddered and wondered just how heartless and selfish this fox had to be. And she was eagerly looking forward to catching and locking him up. She stepped inside the lodge with Jacob as the sheriff began lecturing on what shops were where and about everything that was happening in and around town. After putting her pack in her room and setting her picture of her family on the nightstand she walked out the back door of her room and unto the porch that wrapped around the lodge. She took a deep breath and smiled. She was happy. However, she couldn't help but shiver a little at the touch of the cool night air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was a fun one to write. Almost as fun as the 1st chapter.  
> If anyone has OCs they want to see included then lemme know :P A writer i follow does the same thing in one of their stories. Reader Oc driven story is genius. It's a lot of fun to include the audience. Go check out souluntraveled some of my favorite works they have written.


	4. Tell us something good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is getting a little stir crazy. Do Nick and Finnick have a plan?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnnnnd it's foxy again. Happy easter weekend everybody! Well if you celebrate it :D hope everyone had a good weekend. Without further ado i bring to you... ch.4 Yay! *unimpressed silence. Alright tough crowd. Just take a little looksie. Maybe you can tolerate another dose lol. Sorry to say it's not a very action packed ch. it's a little more relaxed. Sorry but there will be plenty of those to come.. maybe i should start planning a little ahead for this story.

“Are we done here?” 

“Yes I suppose so.” The two foxes put down their binoculars and stood up. 

“Well I reckon the sheriff found some decent help.” the smaller fox growled.

“What that rabbit? Please. The wild west will eat her up in no time. I’m not worried about a rabbit.” The taller fox said calmly.

“Nick. I wouldn’t underestimate that one. She’s the first law mammal to show some guts as of recent. You saw how she jumped on that train. Kinda reminds of me of that Deer the sheriff used to have. That kid had balls. Too bad he was on the wrong side.” Finnick said as he was reminiscing. 

“Yeah you have a point. We’ll keep an eye on her. Besides that it appears that the sheriff still hasn’t fully recovered his forces since the gun store incident.” Nick replied.

The two foxes began to make their climb down the cliffside where from their overlook position. 

“We have to hurry up and get back to camp. I’m sure the others will want to discuss what our next move should be.” Finnick huffed out.

The smaller fox was beginning to run out of breath having to keep up with his companions longer strides.

“Damnit slow down a little Nicky. You know i’ve got smaller legs than you.” he complained.

“Sorry pal. Just ready to get back. I know I wanted to come up here to see if that train was gonna plow into the town or not but I just have a nagging feeling I’m needed at camp.” Nick stated with a look of doubt creeping on his muzzle.

“What? Worried about Snarlov and Riley?” Finnick asked.

“Yes but more so Riley, I know the gang has been getting restless, but they need to be patient. I still believe in our dream. We can still pull it off.” Nick replied.

“I know Wilde. We just need some more time and money. You worry about the women and children. Let me handle the boys. If any of them try and act up i’ll bite they face off.” the smaller tod said with a smirk.  
The pair made their way through the forest a good half an hour until they came back to the road that ran next the train tracks. As they walked down the road in silence they came up to a wooden bridge across a small river. The fox made quick glances around the area to make sure they weren’t being followed. When they felt it was safe to proceed they turned right and walked alongside the river a good ten minutes before going under the train bridge that also crossed the river. As the tods continued walking Nick couldn’t help but start to feel as if eyes were watching them. Finnick noticed too.

“Y’all better come out now before things get ugly.” he stated cooley. 

“And we ain’t afraid to get ugly.” Finnick added.

The two waited for what seemed like an eternity back to back paws on guns with the setting sun in the distance giving the forest a faded orange glow.

“You won’t shoot me ya idiot. I dare ya.” A younger crimson fox wearing a tan cowboy hat with a black and green flannel shirt accompanied by dusty tan pants emerged from behind a tree. Nick’s sister was beautiful for her species. The vixen was a couple years younger than Nick, tried to be as witty, and had the same piercing emerald eyes he did. Nick often found it to be a drag to have to threaten any male that had the balls to hit on her. And she found it equally amusing and annoying that he still treated her like a kit. No matter how much they teased each other or got into they still loved each other very much even if they didn’t admit it to the other.

“Carly what are you doing out here.” Nick asked as he lowered his guard.

“When the guys showed up without you two and started acting stupid I decided to come out here and wait for ya.” Carly shot back. “You two must be getting rusty if you didn’t pick up on my scent at all.”

“How are they acting stupid sis?” Nick asked half hearted. Nick was beginning to worry about that idiot Riley. How much damage could one do with words? And boy did Riley like to talk shit. “And no, we know you use Grandma’s homemade scent repellent just like us, so your attempt at a old joke is futile.” he gave her a smug grin and hug. 

“Haha okay okay you got me. I guess i’ll never be able to out wit you but that’s not gonna stop me from trying brother. O and you know Riley, just trying to rile up everyone. The usual. Mr. Fin where did you and my idiot brother get off to anyway?” she asked with the same sly half lidded grin Nick had. 

Nick knew it.

“We was doing recon. Also took some time to talk about our next move.” Finnick said half there. The rest of his mind focused on his new found hunger.

“Well good. The rest of the group would really like to know something, they are getting pretty restless.” she came again. “Come on i’ll lead ya’ll there.”

The trio walked for another twenty five minutes down a small footpath along side the river until they came to a dense patch of bushes and trees cutting the trail off. The once faint sound of roaring water could now be heard a lot louder. Nick lifted a few of the low branches which upon closer inspection had been cut and re-tied to lower parts of the trees to resemble natural forest foliage. In reality it was a makeshift door that from far away, camouflaged the rest of the trail. As the other two foxes passed by Nick took a few glances left, right and back and forth to make sure they hadn’t been followed before closing the branches behind them.

On the other side the trees opened up to a beautiful waterfall around eighty foot tall and thirty foot wide. Below the waterfall was a clearing where many tents and wagons were spread out with various mammals doing different tasks. From simple chores like washing clothes and dishes, to tending to crops or cleaning guns. The right side of the clearing was a small sandbar that saddled up next to the river where a few predator kids splashed around in the water or buried each other in the sand.

Nick smiled. Despite his rough and tough cowboy face he wore all the time he always enjoyed watching the younglings play and be so carefree. And happy. He wanted a better life for his caravan. He was going to pull it off even if it killed him.

“Nick! Fin! Good to see ya boys. Care for a bite to eat?” The question came from a portly black bear wearing a tan long sleeve, dirty blue jeans, and a stained chef's apron. The bear looked up from his cooking pot with smile. “I think you’ll like dis one. Vegetable cricket gumbo. Mama's old home recipe.” 

“O you don’t even have to ask me Franky.” Finnick said has he bolted over to the bear’s pot.

“How bout you Nicholas?” Frank asked.

“Give me a minute and i’ll be back. Got someone I want to talk to first.” Nick said as he felt an heard his stomach roar.

“Always work first witchu Mr. Wilde. Alright i’ll save ya a bowl.” Frank said as he begin to hand out bowls to other mammals.

Nick was starving but he needed to finish a few things first. He glanced at carly who glanced right back.

“Where are the guys?” he asked. 

“In the cave drinking.” she returned. “You need back up?”

“No I should be more than fine little sister. Where is my son?”

“Down by the river. Need me to go keep an eye on him?” she asked.

“No.. that won’t be necessary.” Nick replied as he walked away. His son Jake was still young. Around seven years old. Nick knew he needed to try again and talk to his son. But he didn’t know how. He didn’t know how to make the boy not blame him. Even though this whole life he had made the boy live was 100% his fault. He just hoped that his and Finnick’s end plan would be worth it. And that maybe his son could see that everything he did was for their family.

Carly shrugged and returned to Finnick to catch a bite. “Holler if you need us.” 

Nick nodded and proceeded to climb the rock steps that ran along the left side of the waterfall to a small tunnel that was almost invisible to anyone with decent vision. If you weren’t looking for it you wouldn’t have found it. As nick squeezed around the rocks and into the cave he began to hear voices coming from within. He saw a faint glow from a lantern or two coming from around another corridor with a bend. Nick turned the corner and rested up against the wall next to the opening of a large cavern. There was a bunch of boxes and crates rested up against the walls of the cave with supplies and loot hidden away in them. In the center of the cave a group of mammals, some with lanterns, gathered around a pit while Jackson, one of Nick’s tiger bandits, began lighting some wood that was in the pit.

“Come on let’s face it. Wilde and Renard are losing their touch. This train job was a okay hit but it’s the first big hit we’ve done in months. I’m tired of sneaking into the local farms windows at night only to grab a couple bucks. Let’s face it this town here is too new for rich folks to be around.” a grey wolf who was sitting on a log behind Jackson chimed in.

“Snarlov please. We all know what you want. You just want to kill. You don’t care about our mission.” This time the voice came from Charles who was across the pit from the wolf.

Snarlov growled. “You watch it boy. I know what our mission is and i'm behind it. Just think we’re slowing down too much.” he countered.

“Y'all know Mr. Snarlov is right. I don’t think they even have a plan anymore. Probably just using us to collect this loot so they can bounce one day while the law catches us. We used to do all kinds of cool shit. We robbed banks, towns, that one time with the army hahaha that was when this was fun. Now just a little train and some stage coaches here and there?” This time the voice came from the mammal Nick was already wanting to strangle. The honey badger himself. Dale Riley. Who was sitting next to Snarlov.

“Have faith in Nick and Fin. They’ve gotten us this far. Hell we started all the way in virginia. Yes it’s taken years to get this far but come on we are almost to califurnia. We will create our utopia. Just you see.” This time it came from one of Nick’s closer friends Comet. The pitbull looked tired as he sat on a stump to the left of Charles.

“What do the rest of you degenerates think?” Snarlov asked. 

Johnson just shrugged as he looked at his feet. Jackson finally got the fire roaring and sat next to Johnson. He too just shrugged. Both the lion and the tiger were conflicted. Delgato who sat in between Snarlov and Charles looked up and said. “ I still have faith.”

Wolford to his right nodded in agreement.

Across the fire from them Fangmyer also nodded in agreement.

“Well you are idiots.” A larger voice that had been behind Riley walked his way out of the dark corner he had been in to sit next to the badger. “This dream will never work. Predators will always be second class citizens in this country. The grizzly wore all black. Black jeans, black undershirt, and black hat. “We must gather as much wealth as possible and flee to a island or down to South Animerica. We could be like kings down there. Or start another revolution haha that one might be harder to do and get us all killed but sounds exciting.”

Nick had heard enough. “Shut the hell up Mr. Kodi.”

The room was silenced. As the flames danced around in the pit, the form of Nick Wilde emerged from the dark entryway as the fire brightened his orange fur with an authoritative glow. Nick walked up to the group and pulled a box next to Snarlov. “Now Dimitri, Marcus, Dale. Why o why are you boys trying to stir shit up.” The fox’s intense emerald glare was avoided by everyone except Marcus. The bear grinned and stared right back.

“We were just having a little chat with the the boys seeing how they were feeling about our current chosen path.” Marcus was unfazed by Nick’s intimidation tricks. “We all would like to know what our next step is Mr. Wilde.”

“Yeah you and Fin owe us that!” Riley piped in.

Snarlov tensed up and looked down. “Do you still even have a next step? You two have been awfully quiet last few months.” Snarlov was hard to read even for Nick. Sometimes the wolf could be so easy going and fun to be around other times he was a scary killing psychopath. Dimitri began to laugh quietly to himself as he stared into the flames. The older grey wolf was in dark holey jeans and a brown button up shirt. He tilted the tan ranch hat down as he chuckled. 

Nick couldn’t tell if he was creeped out or not. Snarlov always seemed unstable but recently it felt like he was getting worse. “Of course i still have a plan. I will inform everyone at the camp meeting later. Nick glanced around at the faces of his outlaws. Some showed doubt, some hope, and did he detect a hint of hatred? No. He must be imagining it. After everything he and Finnick have done for these mammals could some of them resent him? 

“Come on Fin what’s going on with him. Hasn’t he told you anything?” Carly stared into his eyes with that damned puppy dog face she believed worked on every mammal. Not Fin. He had a heart but it was very hard to reach.

“You already know Carly. Ever since we left texas he hasn’t been the same. Why do you need me to explain it?”

“Because he wont talk to anyone in debt besides you. Not even his own sister.” Carly huffed and crossed her arms. She knew Nick more than likely didn’t even talk to Fin about his deep personal conflictions. But she had to ask anyway.

“What makes you think he turns to me? Finnick put down his spoon and finished off the last of his gumbo before pushing the bowl to Frank to clean later then turned to look the vixen in the eyes. “Do you want to know what i think?”

Carly nodded.

“I think he still hasn’t got over Maria. I think he’s still blaming himself and sometimes that guilt makes him question his leadership abilities. He was a determined unfaltering badass before. After what happened, well, he second guesses and usually lets me do all the planning. Like he’s afraid if he makes a plan it will fail.” The small fennec fox spat out.

“I see… explains why he doesn’t say much to Jake anymore.”

“He probably thinks Jake blames him or hates him. I’ll be brutally honest. He needs to figure this out because it’s starting to affect his performance. Sure the train job went real smooth. It was mostly my plan. Thankfully he’s still good in the field, but I need help strategizing I can’t do everything by myself. ”Finnick looked up as he saw the shape of his childhood buddy emerge from the waterfall and walk down towards the camp. “Speak of the devil.”

“EVERYONE GATHER UP” Nick began walking to a clearing in the dead center of the camp by a large fire pit. Mammals from all around camp began to file over to the big fire pit and gather around to eagerly listen to what the fox had to say. The other members of the gunslingers filed out of the cave and into the clearing as well. Only when every mammal was assembled did Nick clear his throat.

“Ahem. Thank you all for coming to listen to little ole me.” Nick glanced around. His eyes surveyed the crowd until the came to rest on a familiar emerald set staring right back into his. The intensity gave him chills. “I know many of you have been getting anxious or worried. I know we’ve been in this spot for several months and haven’t had much progress. I know some of you have been questioning Finnick and myself. Well, i’m going to clear some things up.” Nick took a pause to look around again at the faces of his caravan. Throughout his travels he had accumulated a following of up to fifty something mammals. His all pred little family had been growing since the day he and Finnick had left Virginia. Of course there had been more. Not everyone had survived the harsh journey. It had taken them a couple years to get this far and he wasn’t about to give up on their dream.

“Yes, I have been distracted... As many of you know when my wife died in texas almost a year ago it hit me hard. It’s still haunting me. It’s made me question many of my choices. Why? Because I don’t want to lose anyone else. I’m afraid I might make a bad choice like i did that day. But most importantly..” Nick turned to meet those emerald eyes again. “Most importantly i’m afraid my boy will always hate me. I’m afraid of failing him. I’m afraid of failing you. All of you. Our dream will still happen. I promised you that. I’m determined to not let the past keep me down anymore.” Nick turned away from those eyes.

“So what are we gonna do?” a voice hollered over his shoulder. 

“Yeah haven’t we been here too long?” Came another.

“Why haven’t we left yet?” came from a third.

“What’s the hold up?” a lynx asked in front of him.

“SILENCE!” the Fennec fox’s powerful deep voice still threw off mammals that had known him for a long time. It wasn’t natural. Fin hopped on a wooden stump next to Nick.

“Nick and I counted the money we got from the train. 456.00 dollars and maybe another 600 in jewelry. If we add that to what we got saved we have maybe roughly 145,000 dollars. We are close to our goal. All we need is a little more and we can pack up and head to califurnia. Any Questions?”

“Yeah, why don’t we just hit some bigger scores and be done with it?” Riley asked from behind Marcus.

Nick stepped forward. “Because we’ve already hit so many banks and trains all the way from virginia through the south. We don’t need to keep growing our wanted level. Especially with how close to califurnia we are. We need to be disappearing not receiving more attention.”

Marcus stepped up. “Nick you must be losing your touch. The longer we linger here doing small farm robberies the more time the law has to look for us. We should hit the bank grab what we need and be gone.”

“The bank? You want to rob the New Clawson bank? I have no idea if it is even stocked. I don’t know this area that well. All the cities and towns we hit along the way were established. New Clawson is well new.” 

“But that means it must be full of cash!” Snarov howled. Murmurs of excitement ran through the crowd.

“No Ya idiot it doesn’t mean that. It could be. It could not. Yes the city is growing rapidly but that doesn’t mean it is stocked. They could be spending that money on new buildings or roads as soon as they get it.” Finnick had a point. The majority of the crowd nodded and murmured in agreement. Not Dale Riley.

“Bullshit. If they are paying for all those new things then they obviously have the money and where else would they keep it? Yeah they might spend it fast but they must also be receiving it fast. We need to hit it and get out of here. It won’t be long until they find our camp and shoot all of us!” This made the crowd shift allegiance as the mammals around the pit began to worry and panic at the idea of being caught.

“Enough!!!” This time from Carly. “Nick and Fin have always had a plan let's finish hearing them out.” 

“Thanks sis.”

Carly winked and stepped back. Nick grabbed Finnick by the arm and pulled him into a huddle. After several minutes of quiet discussion and a couple of growls and even a eye roll or two the duo broke the huddle and prepared to address the crowd again.

“Okay we got a revised plan. You have may have a point. We don’t need to linger. The small jobs would work but it would take much longer and i’m afraid we might not have that much more time here. We need supplies and materials to reach our goal. To get that we need money. Since there isn’t any town I can really think of after this one this might get a little tricky. We can rob the bank and use their own money to get us what we need. Luckily the law doesn’t know everyone here so we can send in “travelers” to sell stolen goods and buy supplies. The last time we went into town, before the gun store incident we met a fox at a local general store by the name of George Grey. He mostly runs a small bakery in the shop that makes some blueberry pies that are to die for.” Nick smacked his lips in his train of thought as he glanced into the sky remembering those amazing pies.

Finnick snapped his fingers and if on cue Nick was back. “Point is after my talk with him he was happy to help us fence goods and get us some good deals. He is another of many from our travels who has agreed to join us in our dream after we get it set up. Once we send him a letter or some kind of sign he will pack up and join us.”

“What about us getting more money.” Marcus asked.

“Mr Kodi I was getting there.” Nick snapped back.

“As I was saying. I have a idea. We will wait a few days to let the law simmer down a little and then we shall send in a small group to go sell the jewelry. While they are in town they will get a few supplies and scope out the bank. We will see if it’s worth hitting. We need to check the defenses and the vaults if we can. So... any volunteers?”

After the meeting was over Nick marched right over to Carly about ready to rip her head off. “What are you thinking volunteering!” 

She returned the glare with the same intensity. “Because I can damnit! You’re not my dad. Besides you can’t go into town you might get spotted. They will need a sly fox to replace you. I can do this. I’m more than capable.”

“Carly you can’t! I need you here!” Nick yelled.

“I am not some helpless kit! Just because you feel guilty about your wife doesn’t mean something will happen to me! You should be more focused on you son instead of trying to be overprotective of me!!” she yelled right back. Her heart sank. She instantly regretted her words. Nick was quiet. He looked down at his feet for a moment and quickly did a turn and walked away. Now Carly felt really bad. “Nick wait i didn’t mean that..” 

Finnick hopped off a nearby log and grabbed her by the arm. “Wait, let him go, he needed to hear something like that. It may have helped.” The vixen and the fennec watched in utter silence as nick walked the trail through the camp to a wagon and tent on the outskirts by the sandbar.

Nick was mad. He felt a bolt of heat flow through his body. If it had been any other mammal besides his sister they would be dead. He hung up his hat, tore off his holsters, and pulled out his pistols. Well well aren’t you two a little dirty. Nick looked his revolvers over, whom he named Sasha and Sally, and began to break them down. The two cattlemammal revolvers were black stained, 6 inch barreled, and had engraved silver picture of a male fox on sally’s right side reaching out for a vixen reaching back out to the other on Sasha’s left side. As Nick did his routine of cleaning them of any powder or rust he began to think about carly’s words. She was right. She was grown. And his son, he had been neglecting out of his own fear of rejection. That ended tonight.

Nick finished his work and stepped back outside of his tent. He walked around his tent, and around the cart he used to push his and his family’s belongings, and walked another 10 ft to a lone tree on the river bank where his son pitched his own smaller tent.

Nick sighed. His mind was racing and he couldn’t find the words he was feeling. As he reached his paw up to knock a familiar voice caught him off guard.

“What is it dad?” The smaller fox stuck his head out of his tent. Eyes half shut and fur ruffled. He looked as if he had just started to fall asleep after the camp meeting. 

“Can we talk?

“We are talking now.”

“I mean will you come out here with me?”

“Sure.. give me a second.”

Nick took a step back and waited patiently for his son. He was glad for the extra couple of minutes. It gave him time to think.

He didn’t have long. “Alright what is it?” Jake was outside now standing before Nick with just a pair of tan pants and a grey tank top on.

“Walk with me.”

The two foxes began to walk towards the water. Nick sat down in the sand far enough to where his toes could feel the water. “Son… i’m sorry.”

Jake was unfazed. He just looked at the water. “Is that all you wanted?”

“Jake hear me out.. I feel like you blame me for what happened to Maria.. I..I... “

“Well I wonder why Dad. It was your plan. She didn’t come back. And you refused to talk about it. What else am I supposed to think?” Jake turned his emerald glare towards his father. If mammals thought Nick had a authoritative figure and piercing eyes then his son had it tenfold even at his young age.

“Please let me explain.. I owe you that much and I don’t want you to grow up and hate me. That day... we had information given to us about a caravan full of guns and money. A Wells Fargo full of loot for a nearby town. It.. turned out to be false info. Well.. the caravan was real but it was just some mail. The texas rangers had placed a ambush on the road. I.. I was told by Finnick and a few others they didn’t feel right about it… but i pushed them anyway. Maria refused to not go with me. She was an amazing mammal and a good shot too. With a beautiful soul. She was too kind and loving. It.... it should’ve been me. That’s about all I want to remember right now. She.. she saved my life in the process of losing hers..” Nick was a mammal who wore a mask almost always. 

Not just a physical one. But this got to him, he choked on the tears trying to keep them from flowing, but the guilt of surviving and the guilt of not telling his son more sooner was breaking him down.

Nick felt a paw reach his shoulder. “Dad…” the words also came out choked. Nick looked up to his young kit looking directly into his eyes, not out of hate, but more out of grief and a twinge of sympathy. “Thank you.. That’s all I wanted. I just wanted you to talk to me. I just miss her so much.. And yes I blamed you.. It didn’t help you refused to talk about it.. But if she saved you… then mom was a hero.. An she loved you..” he sniffled and wiped his eyes with his paw.

Nick scooped him up in a hug. “Son I do love you. I’m just a hard mammal to open up.” Jake gave a weak laugh while wiping his eyes. “Alright alright before someone sees the great outlaw Nick Wilde acting like a baby.” Jake said playfully as he tried to escape his father's grip. “OH no you don’t!” Nick said as he grabbed him around the waist and tackled him into the sand. The two foxes laughed and wrestled for a good 15 minutes or so before they both collapsed side by side looking up into the night sky huffing and puffing.

“Dad why are you doing this?” The young tod asked still staring into the glittering night sky. The air was cool, the stars were numerous and painted the sky, and the sound of the waterfall crashing behind them was enough to almost cause Nick to pass out on sight. “Dad!”

“Huh? O yeah.. I do this for us. To give us a place we can be who we are without persecution. I’m going to build a city for us. A city with just predators. It will be called predatopia.” Nick said while flinging his hands in wild directions to try and be dramatic.

“Why can’t we just live in peace with prey? That’s what grandma and grandpa used to think right?” 

“They were good mammals son. They didn’t deserve what happened to them. Because they were foxes they couldn’t be trusted. So one night some of the local Prey in our old town burned down their house out of pure predphoia.. My mother barely got Carly out of that house. She went back in to try and find my dad… They never came back out. They believed in peace until they died. You were just a kit. Maria was an orphan and her and I had our own house down the road… we saw the flames grabbed you and ran to help. I only found Carly, so I grabbed her and fled. Our house was burned down next. And that’s how all this started. Son.. you can never let them get you down. My parents were good people but they were naive. Prey will always treat us second class. So we will make our own paradise.” A moment of silence passed before Nick looked over at Jake.

“Yeah i guess you have a point dad. But I still think peace can be reached. It’s not because they are a certain species that makes some of them the way they are. I don’t believe that just because some individuals are bad that means everyone is. Mom even still believed it. She used to talk about it while you were out doing your thing. She never liked the outlaw life but she knew the reasons why we did it. She was hoping that once we got to where we were going she might have been able to make you believe in peace again. I mean think about it. Mammals think foxes are not trustworthy, but grandma, grandpa, and mom were all good so that doesn’t mean all of us are bad right? So why can’t that apply to prey to?” 

Nick was shocked at the wisdom his young son was displaying leaving him lost for words. The young fox began speaking slower and softer. “Maybe.. One day.. Your heart can.. Heal.. and I don’t hate.. You dad.. I love…” Nick looked back at his son to find him softly snoring. Nick smiled and scooped him up. “Let’s get you to bed buddy.” Jake's words stuck to him like morning dew on grass. Nick laid his son back in his tent and pulled his blanket over him. Did his son really think predator and prey could get along? How did he not resent them for all the grief his family had been put through. Maybe he should try and see things the way the rest of his family did. He wondered how Carly felt about it. Was he the only one holding a grudge? 

Would Maria want him to keep doing this? He didn’t know she felt that strongly against his actions. Was peace really that hard of an ideal to accept for him? So many questions ran through his head all at once. Exhaustion finally kicked in as he dragged his feet towards his own tent. Tomorrow was going to be a new day. He would figure it out then. For now all he wanted was the sweet embrace of sleep to welcome him with open arms.


	5. The Texas Ranger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A newbie in town? A possible lead on the gangs location?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foxy here sorry it has taken me so long to make another chapter I've been very busy with work and home life but i'm back and I plan to release more content a little faster. Please stick with me and enjoy another chapter of OSWMA. And as always feed back and input is greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone.

Judy awoke with fright. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was racing. She had the dream again. For all the good she had been doing around the town and no matter how many mammals she helped she kept having the same recurring night terror she had been having for the last few nights since the train incident on her first day. She shuddered as she began remembering all the strange details about her dream. Feeling as real as they did they almost seemed like a prediction or a foreshadow of what might come. She hoped not.

For the past few nights she would see herself in the middle of a great firefight. She found herself in what appeared to be a large valley of some kind. Large rock walls towered over her and she could barely make out carved trails snaking their way through the rock. Guns, arrows, and explosions were going off everywhere and everything had a shadowy fog swirling around it so the mammals she could see almost looked like ghosts. No faces could be seen. She would find herself lying face first in the dirt behind an upturned wagon in the middle of a camp. Groggily she would sit up and survey her surroundings. Shadowy figures near her would peer from behind cover and fire into the other side of the camp or at the top of the valley at other shadow figures who shot back. It looked like a war zone, something truly out of a nightmare.

Judy would always find herself leaping over the barrel in an attempt to get to the kit right when his emerald eyes locked onto hers. As soon as she would she noticed the other phantoms would all do the same. Charge each other. As she ran to him the shadows would run into each other snarling and biting, stabbing and punching. All around her bodies would fall but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered to her was saving that child. But, every time she got within inches of touching him a phantom fox would leap across the fire and slam into her with a mighty force sending her flying to the ground. 

The fox wore an all back outfit from his boots to his hat. The shadows emanating from his body whipped and danced around as if they're a strong wind blowing a mammals mane or a tree’s leaves. The figure would walk forward as Judy tried crawling back. Her flight instincts were in overdrive her heart raced. As she continued to crawl away she bumped herself up against a boulder. With nowhere to run Judy quickly prepared for the worst. The Specter would creepily advance towards Judy and stand over her in a menacing way. The shadowy swirls where its eyes should be would open up revealing ghastly green orbs whose gaze pierced through Judy’s soul. Pure terror was all she felt looking up at the apparition. The Specter would slowly raise its phantom revolver from its holsters and aim right at Judy. Judy looked back at the kit who would slowly turn his head and look away. Was it shame? Guilt? Fear? Sorrow? She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. But before she could figure it out BAM. 

Judy stretched her small muscular frame sighing in relief at the cracks and pops her body made. Her room on the female side of the law mammal bunkhouse was all hers. Of course, she was the only female deputy she was made aware that at one time the office had a few female secretaries. Most of whom quit due to the fact they dated or were married to some of the law mammals that died under sheriff Bogo. Judy didn’t care, one day the force would be rebuilt and New Clawson would be the safest town in the west. She was going to be apart of that. As she finished her morning stretching and hygiene routine Judy noticed the house was completely empty. No way she was the last one up. She noticed a tray with muffins on them, obviously, Clawhauser stopped by Grey's this morning, with one quick motion Judy grabbed a muffin and was out the door. Maybe a nice breakfast and a good day at work would help her forget about that dream.

“Good morning Hopps about time you showed up.” came the thundering voice of the sheriff as soon as she walked into the office. 

“Sowwy I'm rate swir.” Judy replied saluting with muffin in hand.

“Hopps don’t talk with your mouth full.” Bogo replied as he walked over to his cabinet and pulled out a couple of files.

“What’s that sir?” Judy asked as she finished her muffin. She noticed the files themselves didn't seem to contain much paper.

“This right here is the only information we have on the Wilde Renard gang.” Bogo sighed with disappointment. “They’ve been eluding me for months. Scaring the dickens out of my citizens killing my deputies and this is all I could get on them. Quite frankly I'm embarrassed and ashamed. But I will apprehend them if it the last thing I ever do.”

Clawhauser leaned over and whispered to Judy “Good muffins am I right? Sometimes I wish my stomach was bigger so I could eat more than one.” 

Judy giggled. “Thank you Clawhauser they really are good. I like the blueberry but do they make carrot muffins? Those are my absolute favorite.” she said giving him a playful nudge with her elbow. The cheetah mouthed the words "I'll look next time" as they both turned back to listen to what bogo was saying.

“And that’s why the Governor of Arizona, Mr. Bellwether, is tired of our departments' excuses. He wants results. He threatened to bring in gov’t boys and I do not want that. I want to catch the Wilde Renard gang. Our ranger friend should be arriving any minute now. He was requested a few days ago.”

As if on cue the door busted open and stepping into their office was a raccoon. He had a nasty scar from his left ear to his neck and a couple of minor scars all over his face. Probably from years of brawls and bar fights. He wore a gray hat, black undershirt with a gray vest over it, a pair of dusty jeans and a simple pair of boots. He didn’t exactly look intimidating. Nor much like a law mammal. Especially a deadly Texas ranger. “I’m here.” he spat. He dropped a rucksack in the corner and then pulled a giant folder out of it. He threw it on the table the rest of the law mammals were hovering over. He climbed up on a chair next to Bogo and crossed his arms. “Well? Let’s begin.”

“Um you're not really what I-”

“Expected? I know. And your little group here isn’t what I expected either. Is this it? And you have a female bunny? What is she? A secretary? The raccoon rambled.

“This is everyone and no she’s not she’s a -” 

“I’m a deputy thank you very much.” Judy butt in.

“Wait a minute both of you shut it and quit cutting me off. And let us introduce ourselves.” Bogo yelled out.

“Fine. I'm Texas ranger Keagan Sly. Yes, I’m a raccoon. But do not underestimate my ability because of my species. I worked my ass off to become one of the best in my state. Do you notice I’m alone? That’s how good rangers are. Unfortunately, I actually asked for backup on this one and was denied. This gang is trouble even for the rangers. So I have you. I do hope y’all can shoot.” Keagan finished and looked around waiting for anyone's response.

“Alright I’m sheriff Bogo. These are my deputies. Miss Judith Hopps, Mr. Henry Higgins, Mr. Hank Fletcher and Mr. John Clawhauser. I have two more Mr. Jacob Blue and Mr. Corey Belk. Mr. Blue and Mr. Belk are currently in town keeping an eye out. I’ll fill them in later. Now what all do you know Mr. Sly.”

Keagan threw open his file and spread out a bunch of dossiers on the table for everyone to see. “ Alright. Here’s what I got. The gang originated from Virginia. Is what we believe. The leadership is split between two foxes. Nicholas P. Wilde and Finnick U. Reynard. We have seen around 60 to 70 mammals in their caravan before. Who knows what their highest number has been. However, after my boys and I caught them in a trap I know we must have dropped their numbers to around 40 or 50. Not all of them are gunslingers or bandits. Pity they chose that side. Anyone from the gang that is caught is to be hung. No exceptions. They made their choice.” the last line was said with a low growl.

Judy shivered. She could only imagine what this keagan fellow must have been through and seen in his lifetime. “What about women and children? Surely we aren’t going to murder them?” Judy protested.

“They chose to be affiliated with criminals. We might spare children if they are young enough.” Keagan's words didn’t match his eyes. Judy took a mental note to keep on his good side. If he had one.

“Now, here are the files I have gathered from a couple of states and anyone who has seen or heard of these mammals. These are the actual gunslingers in Wilde’s gang. At least the ones that are still alive and that we know of. Let’s start with this one. Multiple witnesses report a Pitbull whose name is Comet Stafford. White and blue brindle coloring and is an excellent sniper and apparently was an explosives soldier in the civil war. Threat level 1-10 he would be a 7. Not much else on him feel free to look at these I’m not going to read all the details on them.” Keagan pulled out a few more.

“Ah, here we are, tiger number 1 Carl Fangmyer. The same situation with him, another veteran of the war. No real special expertise besides being a muscle. He’s got multiple scars on his face and body so he shouldn’t be too hard to spot. Threat level 5. The second tiger is Franklin Jackson. Worked at a lumber mill in Mississippi. Joined with the gang when they freed him from prison after he was caught stealing from his boss. He’s supposed to be very stealthy and good with lock picks and safes. Not a whole lot left. Threat level 4. Now we have the 2 lions here. First Oscar Delgato. He was a veteran as well and a Gatling gun operator and knows a lot about firearms. How to fix them, build them, to keep them working, etc. Not much else is known. Threat level 6. We take him out that would hurt the gang. The second lion is Stephen Johnson. Not much is known about him either. We just really have a name and a description. The threat level for now maybe 4 or 5.”

Keagan continued. “ Now we have some more interesting thugs. A wolf shepherd mix. A native Animerican. Charlie Beowulf. Wouldn’t be hard to spot him you’d think but he’s only been seen once or twice. But informants who know him know he’s extremely stealthy, is good with a bow, knows how to make treatments for wounds and is an extremely good hand to hand fighter. Very smart and oddly good at gambling or maybe good at hustling a game. Anyway, if he does show up around here he might be in a bar somewhere at the tables. Threat level I’d say about 7 or 8. Moving on we have Dale Riley. I don’t know much about him at all except he recently joined the gang. And that he’s a honey badger. Threat level unknown. There’s also the gangs veteran homicidal lunatic Mr. Snarlov. He’s a grey wolf. And he’s the easiest to set off and is the most ruthless. He knows explosives and can shoot. He was pretty messed up after the war and was in an institute for mental sickness but he escaped and joined the gang. Threat level 9. Besides him, the only other wolf I have a file on would be Mr. Wolford. I don’t know jack on him either I couldn't even find out his first name. Threat level unknown.” Keagan opened up another packet labeled Wilde and Renard.

“These two have a pretty long list of crimes they have been associated with. Murders, grand heists, petty theft, major theft, soliciting, arson, and lollygagging. That’s just a small portion. We know they are the masterminds and the leaders of the gang. With them gone the gang falls. Wilde was a veteran who got discharged after assaulting a prey officer who treated his pred soldiers very poorly. Often making them perform suicidal tasks. He beat this office so bad he ended up dying a few days later in a field hospital. I don't know how he got only a year in prison and a discharge. They say he's a charmer. Anyway, he became an expert marksman and very dangerous in hand to hand combat. I guess growing up in a poor predator slum during the time he went through childhood made him very tough. Renard is the same way. He is a small fennec fox but he is extremely stealthy. I do believe they meet in the war. Renard was a covert saboteur. He would perform stealth missions behind the enemy lines. Stories have been told that Wilde saved Renard from an enemy prison he got caught in after being careless on a mission. Wilde’s threat level 10 and Renard’s threat level 9.” Keagan pulled out one more small piece of paper in his vest pocket.

“Lastly we have reports they have recruited a bear, I don't know his name, but assume a bear has a threat level of 10. He needs to be taken out as soon as possible. I also have reports that there may be another lover for Mr. Wilde. Another Female red fox has been spotted among them.”

“Another?” Judy chimed in.

“Why yes miss Hopps. I killed the other one.” Keagan said with a small smirk on his face. “My boys and I had them fooled. They thought they were gonna hit the jackpot. It was a ranger ambush. It was bloody and I killed a few of their gunmen and almost had Wilde himself, but the lady stepped in at the last minute and saved his ass. For a price, the cost of her own life. I saw the look in Wilde’s eyes. I thought I had broken him. Apparently, he got over it and got himself a new one. Pretty cold-hearted even for me. We might be able to use that. That’s another reason why the rangers HQ didn’t send me any backup. I underestimated Wilde’s misfits and their skills last time. I lost over half of my men.” Keagan looked away and hopped off the chair. Feel free to look over my notes. I have details on how they camp, how they steal, how they eat, make deals with town merchants, etc. I need some air.” he began to walk to the door.

“Wait. You said, town merchants?” Hank asked. 

“Like they buy their supplies from locals who are sympathetic to them?” Judy chimed in. The more and more the raccoon talked Judy began to feel a rise of uneasiness towards him.

“You two are observant. They could already have a sympathizer or two by now.” Keagan was facing the door with his hands crossed behind his back. Without looking back towards his audience he menacingly stated “We might want to be careful we may have a few moles watching us. And if you wonder how we know that, well we have found a few in towns from Richmond to Vicksburg to Houston and possibly here soon. They are the ones who gave us a lot of this info. Most of it actually. And being a traitor is a high offense. Let’s just say most all of them are no longer with us. That may be how they’ve been outclassing you, Sheriff.” With that, he was out the door.

“He sure doesn’t hold back, does he? He told us everything even things I would think someone would keep to themselves.” Clawhauser muttered.

“Yea but he did tell me something I find very interesting. A mole in the city would make perfect sense.” Bogo exclaimed while rubbing his chin. “Let’s get to work Mammals. Hopps, you and Mr. Fletcher take the merchant district. Mr. Clawhauser office duty. Higgins you and I will take the Lumberyard. If anyone sees Mr. Belk and Mr. Blue tell them to hang around the train station and saloon.

With that the mammals cleared the office and took off in their assigned directions. “Well, Mr. Fletcher what do you think about all this?” Judy asked the horse accompanying her while they walked down the street.

“I believe Mr. Sly. I also want to see this gang caught and but on trial. They’ve done terrible things since their formation. They even killed my boy.” Judy looked up at Hank on that note and saw for the first time how weary his face really looked. How much pain and despair he must have been through.

“What was his name?” she asked. 

“Billy. He wasn’t really my son but I found him when he was just a baby spot in the woods. He had, I assumed, been abandoned or maybe his parents had been taken by the natives or bandits. He was a deer. I raised him and even had him follow in my footsteps being a law mammal helping others. He had so much energy and was way better than I ever was with a gun at his age. They took him from me in that gun store robbery months back. I only wish it would've been me so he could have at least got to enjoy this world little longer…” With that, Hank began to walk a little faster.

“I’m sorry to hear that Hank..” Judy’s heart was heavy. She now had even more reason to catch these villains. “We’re here,” Judy said as they arrived at the merchant district of town. 

“Don’t worry about it Judy, it felt nice to tell someone new, and it's nice to have someone who seems to care. Now we’re here so let’s get to work and split up. I’ll check out the boot store and the barber on the right side of the street, Miss Hopps please check out the general store. If you spot any shady characters doesn’t hesitate to find me. Remember their descriptions and keep your guard up. Good luck.” With that, the two mammals gave a nod of agreement and split up. Judy hurried across the street avoiding the busy bustling of the other mammals all around her until she finally reached the wooden porch of Big's General. Judy pushed open the dusty colored hardwood door to a familiar place. The first store she entered when she arrived in New Clawson. Mr. Big. 

“Be careful with that you idiot! I swear I don’t know why I keep you around sometimes. If you didn’t know how to cook so well I would’ve tossed you out years ago” The voice was obviously upset Mr. Big. 

“I’m sorr sorr so sorry Mr. Big I'll clean that right up.” a nervous voice came from a second mammal. A red fox. Rather big for his species. Taller and a little plumper. He was wearing an apron over his jeans and rolled sleeved white button-up shirt. He hurried off to grab a broom and some rags to pick up the jar of pickles he had most likely knocked over.

“Miss Hopps! Good to see you again!” Mr. Big said with a huge grin across his face. “How are you, Mr. Big?” Judy asked with a smile.

“Please call me Danny. How can I help you today?” The shrew replied.

“I’m just on patrol for shady characters not much else. I did want to stop by and see this chef I’ve been hearing about.”

“Oh George? That idiot is that Fox. Kinda slow but means well even for a predator. You can speak to him if you like.” Mr. big turned to the front door when he saw a huge wagon being pulled by an elephant stopped outside. “ Oooh it’s here!” he exclaimed.

“Is that a chunk of ice?” Judy asked bewildered. 

“Yes! Dry ice. Takes longer to melt. I had a genius idea. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a cold beer in saloons? Well, I’ve designed boxes that fit under bar counters that can hold my ice so that saloons can place their taps onto them and serve cold beer. I call them coolers. They will be the next big thing. If all goes right I can get into the ice business and be the only one in town who supplies it. Anyway, Miss Hopps if you’ll excuse me I have to see to the movement of this ice to my cellar.” and with that Danny hopped off his counter and scurried out the door.

Judy turned around and walked over to George as he finished cleaning the last few pieces of the broken jar off the floor. “Hi, Mr. Grey right? I’ve heard a lot about you. One of the best bakers and cooks in town right?” Judy asked with positiveness.

“Ye ye yes ma’am that’s me. Well, I wouldn't say I'm the best in town but a lot of folks come here to eat or order food to go. Miss?”

“Hopps. Judy Hopps. And I came in here today after I had some of you muffins to ask if you made anything with carrots.” she asked.

“Yes I can make a few things with carrots. I don’t mean to brag but I’ve been told my carrot cake is pretty good. If you come back, later on, I can make one for you.” 

“That sounds good! How about tomorrow morning? I haven’t had any carrot desserts in a long time.” Judy said as her mind drooled of remembering her grandmothers homemade cooking.

“Okay I can do that for you Miss Hopps I’ll see you tomorrow then.” he replied with a grin. 

“Will do!” Judy said as she waved and turned to the door. Judy only made a few steps until she froze. That’s when she saw her. A female red fox. She walked in the door with a decent-sized satchel and was accompanied by a portly black bear and a white wolf. Judy tucked her badge in her pocket and quickly changed directions from the front door to one of the isles of goods as to look as if she was browsing. 

“Miss Carly! It’s so good to see you Beautiful! What brings you in today.” George asked with a happier than usual attitude.

The white wolf sniffed the air and cast a side-eyed glance towards Judy. With a hand on her hip the female fox opened her mouth to speak but before Carly could reply the wolf cut in “Mr. Grey good to see you. The ranch has been a little desperate and our boss Mr. Cage sent us into town to sell some of his family’s heirlooms. In return, we would like some store credit on some canned goods and ammunition for the damn crows always in the corn. Oohh and some lumber and a couple of wagon wheels to mend our worn-out wagons and carts.” As if on a cue Carly and the bear shot side-eyes at the rabbit from across the store.  
“Yes, Mr. Grey what John said. I could’ve said that John.” She playfully elbowed him in the ribs.

“I got the scales in the back follow me.” Mr. Grey even glanced in Judy’s direction before all four mammals disappeared into the back. Could that be them? Judy thought to herself. Could Mr. Grey be a mole? Judy walked outside and to the side of the building where Mr. Big was directing the elephant on how to shove the giant piece of ice into his shop's cellar. After waiting for seemed ages she heard the front door creak open and the hard footsteps of many mammals moving around items from the store to the outside. She cautiously peeked from around the corner to observe her targets.

“Thanks again Mr. Grey you’ve been a big help.” The portly black bear said as he dragged some lumber and a wagon wheel to the cart they had Stationed outside.

“It’s my pleasure, Frank. Y'all come back if you need anything else and send my regards to your boss.” George said as he walked back into the store. The female fox was loading canned food while the wolf was carrying a few tools and what looked to be a few bottles of medicine or alcohol to the cart. After they finished their packing the bear picked the cart up and the trio began to march off.

Judy looked around for Fletcher but had no clue where he was and she didn’t have time to chase him down. Her targets might getaway. All she had to do was observe from afar. They matched the description way to well and she couldn’t believe her dumb luck. If they were part of the gang and she could follow them and discover their camp location then she maybe could do something no one else has done for so many years.  
Catch Wilde and Renard.


	6. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Nick and Judy wrap up their Library investigation the duo finally head over to Nick's old neighborhood to meet some mammals from his past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey foxy here. Sorry for the long time no see. Been really busy and haven't had the time i've wanted to get back into things. However i'm getting back to it and i've brought another short and sweet chapter. Sorry for it being so short it just felt right to stop there. As always any questions comments feedback ideas or even characters hit me up would love to hear from more people hope I haven't lost too many people due to inactivity. Anyway enjoy!

“Hey carrots look what i found.” Nick whispered to the bunny on his right. Judy rolled her chair over to his monitor to take a gander at what her fox had found. “What did ya find slick?” she asked inquisitively. 

“Well fluff it looks like Wilde and Renard hailed from virginia, and its estimated they had gathered or recruited a couple hundred predators along their journey to Califurnia. It took them many years to cross the states and along the way they were credited with robbing 28 banks, 215 stage coaches, 189 stores, and had wayyy to many personal robberies and house break-ins to count. My super great grandpa was an awful person.” Nick scooted over a little more to allow the bunny to read.

Judy’s eyes grew after reading all the details. “Wow Nick. There is so much on him and his main posse in here. Did the museum have all this?” 

“No they don’t. They only put out a couple of details. He’s in the part of the museum that explains the early days before the city was built and he’s on the list of mammal criminals that tried to ruin it.” he explained.

“Oh ok i was going to ask why he was in the museum. That makes sense now. I don’t really know much about my grandmother. My family never really talks about her. The only thing I've found on public records here was that she was on the first council of city founders. Here look at this Nick. Apparently she retired from being a law mammal for a town called New Clawson in Arizona after an unidentified personal tragedy and moved to Califurnia to help build the early zootopia we know today. For unknown reasons she moved out of the city limits early in its development and helped found bunny borough. Wow I didn’t know that.” 

“Maybe my mom and dad or my grandparents have some kind of family history in our attic that might give us a little more info on grandmomma Judy. I’d love to know.” With that judy pushed her chair back and began a long stretch cracking her lower back in a pleasing manner and popping a few stiff joints and muscles back into shape. 

Nick watched out of the corner of his eye. Why? He thought. Why am I staring at her like a creeper. Nick shrugged the idea out of his head and he too pushed himself from the computer in an attempt to relieve some stiffness in his body from sitting to long. “That sounds like a plan it’s still early in the day, you could call your parents and see if they have anything like that so we don’t waste a trip out there.” 

“It wouldn’t be a waste!” Judy exclaimed. “Besides I need to go visit someday anyway, it's been a little while.” Judy thought for a second on a detail Nick had mentioned earlier in the morning and decided to bring it up. “Hey Nick question.”

“Shoot.” his simple response. 

“You said that your dad had wanted to show you something involving your great great great grandfather. What do you think he meant by that? Like did he have documents hidden somewhere or a journal maybe? And another thing his crime partner was named Renard. Who else do we know with that last name? You don’t think that he’s related to Finnick by chance do you?” Judy finally finished her banter of questions to hear what Nick had to say.

Nick took a second to think over all her questions and come up with some kind of answer. “Well, actually I’ve thought about that. My mother has all my fathers old things up in her attic and i’ve never looked through it before. Maybe something is in there. And as for finnick that makes sense. Although I doubt he would know i don’t think he keeps up with that kind of stuff.”

“Well since we are already in Zootopia why don’t we check out your mom’s house first? You did say you thought it was time I got to meet her.” Judy exclaimed with an excited fist bump and hop from the library chair to the floor. 

Before she could get to far away Nick called out. “Hold it fluff butt. Forgetting something?” he said cooly while pointing to her monitor. 

“My bad.” Judy said quickly as she hopped onto the desk to logout of her computer and turn it back off. Nick added “And sure we can go visit my mom. I just hope my sister isn’t there.” he said with a sigh.

“I almost forgot you mentioned you had a sister. What’s her name?” Judy asked with curiosity beaming from her amneyst colored eyes.

Nick leaned against the desk and stared out into the city. He wondered how his sister was. They hadn’t spoken in ages. After becoming a con artist and getting into petty crime his sister had turned her back on him. She would always try and stop him from leaving the house to go see Mr. Big, Finnick, or any of the other scum he used to hang out with. Everytime she would plead for him to stay with her and their mother whose heart he was unintentionally breaking every time he stepped outside that front door. He would brush her off telling her she was just a kid and didn’t know anything. I was such a jerk... Nick mentally scolded himself and questioned whether he deserved to see his little sister now. 

“Nick?” Judy’s voice snapped him out of his train of thought as he turned to answer her.

“Sorry I was just lost in thought. Her name is Krimson Carly Wilde. Or KC for short. I have no idea how my parents got krimson from but carly was apparently my super great grandfather's sister’s name.” As he finished his reply Nick started to walk towards the stairs. “Let’s go fluff. She may or may not be at my mom’s house. And just to warn you it’s not in the best part of zootopia. A little place I don’t believe you’ve been to. Happy Town.”

Hearing the odd name Judy snickered. “Happy Town? Really? That doesn’t sound bad at all. Lead the way Nick. I’ll call my folks in a minute and see if they have anything for us. You think we can stop by Smoothie Queen first?” Judy quickly caught up to him as he began to descend the stairs. She was excited. She knew Nick for years now and this was the first time he began to open up to her about his family. And finding out Nick had a sister O boy she couldn’t help but try and imagine a female Nick, complete with the same handsome smirk and maybe a tacky green floral skirt. The idea made her giggle. The sound of happy rabbit made Nick take a second to look back and smile his famous smirk. It was adorable. Wait? Adorable? Handsome? What was she thinking. Nick was her best friend. She didn’t have feelings for him. Right? Judy’s face suddenly felt very hot and bothered.

“You good Jude the dude?” Nick asked after he noticed his favorite silver bunny turning into a nice tomato red bun. Wonder what’s got her flustered like that? He chuckled to himself mentally.  
“Nick!!!! Don’t call me that!” Judy hid her face with her ears even harder hoping no one in the library heard her awful nickname her father had given her. She quickly picked up her pace and was soon past nick down the stairs around the hallway and out the front door. “Pull yourself together Judy. He’s your best friend stop making this weird. You do not like him like that.” She said as she mentally slapped herself. A few moments later her ginger furred fox came out of the library’s front door looking very puzzled.

“You good Carrots?” he asked with a grin. “

“MMHMM. T-t-totally.” was all she could come up with as she began walking down the sidewalk.

“Uhh carrots? Smoothie Queen is this way.” 

“Right.” Judy did a 360 and caught up to him. Judy slowly began to feel less flustered and back to her normal self. 

The pair made their way down the street passing building after building block after block. There it was. The heart of the city. Precinct 1. Judy’s home away from home. Since arriving in zootopia those 2 few years ago Judy still had the same feeling every time she came near the building. Awestruck. The larger than life sandy pillars flaunting the heavy glass doors would be, for most, an uneasy or even intimidating trip. Either going in to file a complaint or stolen item form or for the poor souls being brought in for stealing said items or other various crimes. Not for Judy, those doors swung open each day in a welcoming embrace. Too bad it was her day off. As much as she liked to take a little R&R and spend time with her best friend and partner Nick she still secretly longed to be out and about helping making her city a better place. 

Nick looked at the building to his right across the street. He always hid the small shiver he got going in that place. The precinct. Where all criminals fear to be. To think he once ran from cops and feared being 100 yards in the same general area as the precinct. It was almost ironic. The place he once fought against he now worked for. However Nick still loved his new job. The ability to be seen as something more than a shifty no good fox to a respectable law abiding citizen was the best feeling he had in years. The last two years of his life he had been happier than he had ever been. It was all thanks to that rabbit. The first person to believe in him and more importantly made him believe in himself. For that he owed her a debt he could never repay. He owed her his life. And deep down he vowed he would always be there for her as she was there for him.

As the rounded the next block and the precinct faded into the city they came into view of the smoothie queen. A fairly new franchise that specialized in protein fruit and vegetable smoothies that could easily make an elephant full. The colorful building was large enough for every size animal to come inside. It also had registers and menus of various heights, from tiny mice all the way to giraffes. Of course Judy ordered a Carrot cream smoothie, while Nick as he always did, ordered a blueberry typhoon smoothie.

“Forgot how good these were.. We should come here for lunch breaks more often on workdays.” Nick muttered while still slurping his smoothie.

“For sure…” Judy couldn’t get anything else out in her sentence, her attention was far to focused on the orange drink. 

The pair soon finished and began their walk to the train station. “So did you get a hold of your parents?” Nick asked as the past yet another block. 

“Let me check my messages.” Judy replied as she pulled out her Zphone 9R. As she was flipping it over to check the screen it vibrated. “Well that must be them.” She stopped for a minute to read the message. “Hey Nick this is odd. Read this.” she handed him the phone.

Hey mom do you have any old boxes in the attic or somewhere that might have belonged to Great Great Grammie Judith?

Hey Judy umm yes.. We might still have something of hers left up there. We don’t really look into her stuff. Why are you asking?

“What’s weird?” Nick asked looking clueless.  
“Nick my family is well, all about family. Come to think about it, I've never really heard anything about my Granny Judith. Only mentioned by name. Most of my other relatives have been in stories that my family tells the young ones from time to time. It’s just weird for them to just act like she doesn’t exist.” Judy received her phone back and began to reply to her mother.

“Okay now that I know that, that does seem a little weird. You think she did something the family is ashamed of? So they keep her memory suppressed and hoping she fades away?”

“Nick that’s terrible! But… I’d hate to think it’s true. Only one way to find out. We can dive into that mystery later. For now there’s another case I want to crack. FInding out who your family is.” She said with a giggle.

“Alright alright let’s just get to the train station.” Nick smirked.

After another ten minute walk the pair came to one of the many train stations scattered throughout the city. Judy and Nick hopped on the nearest train to Happy Town and managed to squeeze in between a rhino and a wolf couple. The train may have been packed but Nick knew better. As soon as they got to a Happy Town stop they would probably be among very fe if any to step off. Most mammals pass Happy Town without a second thought. Nick shuffled around in his seat visibly uneasy. 

Noticing Judy decided to question her friend about how he was acting. “You good slick?”. Judy watched as the fox just stared at the ceiling and let out a heavy sigh.

“Judy the reason I haven’t really spoken about my family or let you meet them is because I still haven’t talked to them or seen them since I walked out all those years ago. I’m actually really nervous.” Nick looked up to see those comforting amethyst eyes staring right back at him and a comforting paw clutch his arm. 

“It’s ok that why you got me dummy. We’re partners I got your back.” With that Nick let out a smile. He didn’t know how she did it but she was one of the very few mammals to bring out his soft side. He didn’t like being so open he was always taught tough on the streets and life had hardened his heart at a young age. This was still new to him, but he didn’t quite despise it.

“Thanks Carrots. I’m glad we are doing this. It’s time I healed some hearts instead of breaking them.” he said with a wink and finger guns. 

“Ugh you’re too much Nick.” she replied with a giggle. 

The two mammals enjoyed the rest of the ride talking anything and everything from work drama to the latest movies about to come out they wanted to go see. Both were at peace. The train soon stopped at their destination and not surprising to Nick only two other mammals besides themselves existed off the train. Judy stopped still to look around only to have her jaw drop at the sight of Happy Town before her. 

To Judy whoever named Happy Town either had a once bustling district or a really sick sense of humor. Unlike the name would suggest Happy Town was the polar opposite. The dirty pothole ridden roads had garbage littered all across them and their sidewalks. Very few cars drove up and down the roads and the most cars seen were either broken down on the side of the road or abandoned on blocks in parking lots. The buildings were in even worse shape. They all were a dull shade of gray having lost any formal glory from a variety of paints long faded from the winds of time. It seemed to Judy that every other house was abandoned and boarded up. A few mammals walked in and out of some of the buildings wearing rags or dirty clothes. A couple were even by a trash can fire in an opening of an alley. Judy’s heart sank and she couldn’t imagine Nick growing up here or even his mother and sister still here.

“You see now Carrots? Not every place in zootopia is magical. Happy Town is the poorest sub-district of Savannah Central. It’s all the way in the top corner of it by the mongoose river that splits the Rain Forest district and Savannah Central. And the other border of Happy Town is the Zootopian Sound. As you can see it’s back into a corner and isolated. You have been here for two years and you didn’t know about this place that’s because nobody wants to acknowledge this place. It’s just an eyesore to everyone but it’s residents. With a mostly poor predator population it’s hard to get out. Believe it or not I’ve heard it actually used to be a nicer place. Don’t ask me how it fell because I don’t know.” Judy saw a glimpse of sadness in Nick’s eyes. It was brief but it was there.

“Nick I don’t know what to say.. This isn’t right.. This needs to be fixed.” Judy was staring at a badger mother huddled over the trash fire feeding her kit a bottle. She looked very tired.

“I agree. I don’t know how but maybe one day. But that’s a battle for another time. You ready?” he asked.

“Lead the way Nick.” Judy began to follow him still with ears down.

The two mammals made their way down a couple more blocks with every new one tearing at Judy’s heart even more. There were pred cubs and kits playing in an old playground with mostly broken equipment. The slides were lopsided and the swings were all broke but two. The basketball nets were gone and the soccer goal was also missing its web. Some of the children kicked around a half deflated ball while others just sat around poking an anthill with a stick. Judy also saw a couple of shops and stores that looked half empty and most had burglar bars on all their windows. The only place that looked really alive was a bar that was poorly named Smileys. It seemed most of the town’s males were there drinking away their worries. 

Soon they were what appeared to be the outer side of Happy Town closer to the river. Judy noticed a big warehouse on the docks by the water that read in big but faded letters Wilde Times. 

“Nick that building over there has your last name isn’t that odd?” she looked back to Nick to see him leaning on a railing that lead to some stairs down to the docks. He too had been staring at the old warehouse.

“Well I guess i knew you’d pick up on that. It has my last name because it’s mine. Don’t you see Finnick’s van down their?” he let out a soft chuckle.

“What?!?” Judy let out with a little more shock in her voice than she meant to.

“Well I know you’re going to ask anyway so i’ll tell you. Before my dad died and right before I got into crime I bought that place and tried to make it a fun place for all mammals to come and actually be happy. I tried to make a difference. I didn’t really want to be a tailor like my father but I still wanted to make him proud and show him I could make something amazing and lift everyone's spirits around here. Finn and I saved all the money we had and bought it. We made a kick ass theme park. Even had a rollercoaster in there and a bunch of games. We let vendors come in and set up food every weekend. We had all kinds of stuff to do. We slowly built it up. But the law shut us down. Said we had no safety permits and that we broke too many violations and rules. We were young back then and didn’t know any of that. We would’ve been fine except they raided our machines and games. They took all our equipment claiming it was stolen. The pig we bought the old carnival junk from decided he wanted his stuff back and because we were too dumb to bills of sale he reported it stolen and we couldn’t prove anything..”

“Nick that’s terrible.. So he got away with it?” Judy didn’t think her heart could take anymore sad stories. 

“You know the huge theme park downtown called Porky’s? That’s him. He ripped me off and now he has a huge multi-million dollar theme park and is working on another one.” Nick turned around and looked at Judy. “That was the last thing that pushed me and finnick into being criminals. We Made money at wilde times but we used most of to refurbish and make all that old equipment nicer. I guess the pig saw this and wanted it back. What a dick.”

“Wait so why is Finn down there?” Judy asked.

“Because we live there.” Nick said shamefully. “Finn drives me to the station every morning and I give him gas money. I then walk from the station to the precinct. I’m stuck with that place. Might as well use it.” Nick turned around and began to walk off. “Come on carrots. We are almost there.”

Judy couldn’t take it. She was speechless. She didn’t want to believe all this. She felt extremely bad that she hadn’t been able to figure any of this out. But she knew this was a lot for Nick to share and it was very very personal. They walked in silence for another ten minutes along the edge of town until they came into a little section of town that looked a little bit more lively. There was less trash and less abandoned cars and houses but it was still Happy Town for sure with dull houses, grown up grass in some yards, and potholes all over the street. Nick stopped at a two story building that had what looked like a store on the bottom and an apartment on the top. The front of the building was relatively clean minus the faded words on the window that read Suitopia. Below that a window sign read Seamstress Closed.

“It’s the weekend i'm not surprised she’s closed. Oh and Suitopia was my father’s business. My mother was a seamstress. She still works here. Not making suits but stitching up locals clothes and other stuff like that.” Nick was nervous. He ended up just staring at the door.

“She sounds like a beautiful soul. Come on Nick knock you got this.” Judy said as she fist bumped his ribs.

“Alright alright cut it out.” he said with a small chuckle. Nick raised his paw to knock but before he could the door swung open and a lightning fast red fist smashed Nick across his muzzle.

“The hell do you want?” came a voice oddly similar to Nick’s but with more of a girly tone to it. In the door frame stood a carbon copy of Nick. Almost like a twin just a tad bit shorter and clearly female. She wore a pair of dark jeans, a green tank top and a black hoodie tied around her waist. But most intriguing to Judy was the fact that this fox had the same piercing emerald green eyes that shot daggers at her brother who still had his head turned from her punch and was looking at his feet.

“Hey Krimson.. goood to see you too been awhile hasn't it? Is mom home?” Nick asked still not meeting her gaze.

“Of course she is. You’d know that if you were ever here. How long has it been Nick? You left a few years after dad died and never looked back. What’s it been? Ten years maybe? I’ve lost track. Why are you here now? Did a conscious finally developed in you?” Krimson spat on the ground. “You should just leave.” She then shot daggers at Judy. “And who is that? Your Girlfriend? Honey You can do better than this asshole. All he does is break hearts.”

“Enough Krimson. This isn’t my girlfriend she’s my best friend and partner at the ZPD. And I know I've been a shitty brother and son but don’t you think I should get a chance to show that I’ve changed? And that Bunny has a name, it’s Judy and she is one of the reasons i’m the mammal I am today. Now I’d like to see my mother.” Nick said this time locking eyes with Krimson and shooting the same piercing emerald gaze back at her.

Krimson eyed Judy for a second then her brother looking both of them up and down before replying. “No.” but before she could close the door a soft voice came from behind her. “Nicky!?” an excited older female fox with graying hairs mixed in with her dulling ginger fur emerged behind Krimson. “Move KC.” she said as she squirmed her way past Krimson before she could even get out of the doorway. The older fox, who was around the same height as Krimson, wore a simple white shirt with a light blue skirt. Her eyes were the same Beautiful emerald that she shared with her children. She slowly walked up to Nick and stared at him for a second looking him over. Nick couldn’t bring himself to look at her. His ears were flat and his eyes were on the ground. He looked almost pitiful. Judy didn’t know how to feel. She was happy that Nick was doing this reunion but also even she began to worry about his mom’s reaction. Especially since his sisters wasn’t the best.

“Oh my Nicky…” She gently pulled his muzzle up with her paws to look at him eye to eye. She then gently licked the spot were KC had punched his face then brought him into a surprisingly tight hug that even took Nick by surprise and made him cough. Judy’s heart was melting all over again as she saw the tears down both fox’s faces. Nick’s face was shedding tears of pain and regret while his mother was shedding tears of joy and happiness.

“Mm.. mom i’m so so sorry…I..I..” Nick was cut off but her soothing voice “Shhh baby it’s okay you’re here now. I knew you would come home eventually. You’re here now that’s all that matters.” Her soothing voice was calming Nick and even Kc had a few tears down her muzzle. She was trying to be tougher than she really was Judy could see that.

“I see you brought a female with you. A girlfriend perhaps? Please both of you come inside come come.” she seemed to be filled with a renewed vigor upon seeing her long lost son as she was smiling and almost skipping up the stairs to her house. Kc stepped aside to let them inside not letting her gaze fall off Nick. Kc shut the front door and lead the dou up the stairs after Mrs. Wilde. As they reached the top of the stairs Kc opened the door to let them all in. Nick finally had his eyes dried and Judy could see Kc flopping onto the couch turning the tv on while Nick’s mom was in the kitchen starting to bake up a storm singing some song Judy didn’t recognize but was all the same very beautiful. Her happiness was infectious as both Nick and Judy both started to smile widely. 

Nick leaned over to Judy and whispered “Thank you carrots.” It caught Judy off guard a little and as she looked up she could see him staring at his family as he wiped a single tear from his smiling muzzle.


End file.
